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Mailing dimensional cards - Postal employee told me...
I know she was doing me a favor, so I'll pass on the information.
A few months ago, I was mailing a card with raised items (polyshrink) and the postal worker told me that unless I use an oversized envelope and request hand cancelling, that the postal equipment can become jammed trying to send it through the conventional way. She was looking out for both her equipment, and my card.
So a couple of weeks ago, I added some bubblewrap to the "bump" in the envelope. Was told my card arrived damaged and the polyshrink dragonfly's tail did not survive the trip.
What's the best way (including cost considerations) of sending cards, particularly those with shakers, layers, fluff and plastic that can get squished in the mail?
I use oversized bubble envelopes. They cost more to send but I know they will arrive safely. Once I've worked hard on my card, especially one with handmade embellishments, I don't want to see them ruined.
I use an oversize card envelope, cut a piece of cardboard, (like the back of a notepad) to fit in the envelope. slide my card in- in it's own envelope, bump area facing toward cardboard. I get them hand cancelled at the window. Costs a bit more, size wise, but I've never had a problem. I only send cards like this to very good friends and family. Not to anyone that I know throws away cards.
At Christmas time, I had grief with eyelets. I had to pay double the postage! I was shocked!
They seem fine with them all year long until Christmas. Crazy!
__________________ Whadda ya mean I can't stamp on that??
This is what I found out and what I have done and it seems to work. The Post Office had me put a piece of packing tape( the wide clear kind) over the area on the envelope where the embellishment was on my Christmas cards. They told me that it needs to be really smooth and slick for it to go through the machine so nothing will get caught. I also try to put the card in so that the embellishment isnt where the stamp will be cancelled. I do use a small piece of bubble wrap over the embellishment to protect it or keep in place in the envelope and this also seems to work well and doesnt add weight. This seems to work fine with small or flat embellishments but with larger ones, I have sent them in a special envelope or had them checked at the post office for needing more postage. I always put a peice of packing tape along the flap rather than just glue because i make my envelopes. Another thing I learned from a friend is that if it is more than three sheets of paper, it will need to be checked for extra postage. Hope this helps someone also.
__________________ Sherlie..... aka Surelyyoustalktoo? Just living is not enough, one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower,and a few stamps, of course, www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/Sherlie
I use SU's clear envelopes to mail cards with embellishments - ribbon, eyelets, buttons, etc. This seems to work really well and I've only received one back ever for additional postage. I only mail very flat cards (ie: only cards with a couple layers and no ribbon, eyelets, etc) in the regular paper envelopes.
Here's what I've learned about mailing "bumpy" cards (I'm the queen of embellishments, so nearly every card I send out has something that sticks up!)
Anything that is "fatter" than 1/4" will require additional postage, even if it's under the weight limit for a normal letter (I believe it is 12 or 14 cents, but since I can never remember I usually use a 22 cent stamp because I have them on hand). I would recommend that you go to the Post Office and request a Letter-Size Mail Dimentional Standards Template...it won't cost you anything, but they will probably have to order special to get one in for you so allow 2 weeks. This Template is a big piece of really heavy weight plastic that has all of the important size info printed on it and sketched in. It also has a 1/4 wide slot to test your fat cards - the card needs to slip through easily on it's own (no nudging allowed). If it doesn't fit, you need more postage!
The other thing I've learned is that hand cancelling is only possible for local mail. If the card is going somewhere out of your local postal area it will automatically get tossed in with all the other mail and go through the
"grinders" ...ouch! That being the case, you need to allow for the fact that your card is going to get smooshed somewhere along the way.
Which leads to the next thing I've learned. You need to protect the card face in some way so that the stuff (brads, charms, whatever) don't get pushed through the envelope when it gets handled. My former fool-proof way was to put the card in regualr envy and then put it in a manila type envy that had been cut & folded to fit the card (a regular 6"X9" manila end-close envy is perfect for this - SU envys slip in and fit perfectly and you cut off the excess at the end and fold over.) In addition to the manila envy, I would sometimes put include a thin sheet of card board, placed on the side of the card that had the bumpy stuff. I never had one of these cards arrive damaged, so it worked, even if it was a extra work to do.
My new way of mailing bumpy cards is this: Place your card in envy with fold to the bottom, bumpy stuff to the back of the envy. Take another piece of CS, cut to size (1/4 sheet of CS for the cards I make), and run it through your crimper. Place this crimped panel between the card front (the Pretty Side!) and the back of the envy....seal, and send. It does require extra postage because it won't fit through the 1/4" slot on the postal template, but so far everything I've sent has arrived safely.
Another sign that this is working is that my friends have started to send me cards this way, reusing the crimped paper I sent in their card! The cards I've received are in good condition, even though the crimped paper will show bumps where the embellishments have pushed against it in transit. This method of mailing probably wouldn't work for really delicate embellishements, but so far it has worked great for what I've done (lots of brads, shrink art tags, tied ribbons, eyelets, pop-dotted panels, etc.)
I'll keep watching for more ideas - I'm always open to new ways to send stuff that gets it there safe and easy!
Susy
Wow,,, lots of great information, thanks for the info on the Letter size template, next time I go to the PO, I will ask about getting one... that will be a great thing to have, Boy are they gonna dislike us now... LOL,,,,
__________________ Sherlie..... aka Surelyyoustalktoo? Just living is not enough, one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower,and a few stamps, of course, www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/Sherlie
Mailing dimensional cards - Postal employee told me...
